Well, our busy season is upon us. Many of our seasonal markets are well on their way. I am also getting the opportunity to speak with the many store managers regarding my dairy and our products. As always we love to share our products and get to know our customers. We always are happy to receive and answer lots of questions regarding our farmstead cheese and milk.

One of my favorites is “WHAT MAKES YOUR MILK SO SPECIAL???” (I want to joke and say DUUUUHHH a “Dairy Goddess made it”…LOL)

Well, the truth is my milk is special and different from most milks on the market. Not only is it because of our beautiful cows that God entrusted with us. Nor the fact that they are monitored around the clock to make sure they are happy and receiving the freshest most nutritious diet, along clean fresh water.

The main difference in our milk is the way we process it and I am happy to share that with you!

Dairy Goddess milk is non-homogenized, which means the butterfat molecules in our milk are left in their natural state. These relatively large milk-fat globules bind with nutrients (like vitamins A & D) found in the liquid portion of milk. The nutrient-carrying globules travel to the stomach and gut where they release the nutrients for use by the body. Milk fat, in it’s natural state, easily makes its way through the entire human digestive tract.

Homogenized milk molecules on the other hand, are unnaturally small and misshapen. They haphazardly attach to nutrients, but unfortunately, pass out of the digestive tract and directly into the blood stream before the nutrients can be digested.

Further, the destruction of milk-fat globules can lead to hardening of the arteries. While this is contrary to popular belief, some noted researchers and medical experts believe this to be the case. Robert Cohen, Executive Director of the Dairy Education Board, wrote in his article “Homogenized Milk: Rocket Fuel for Cancer,” in 2007, that the smaller, disfigured milk-fat globules produced during homogenization act like capsules for substances that bypass digestion. Not only are important nutrients lost into the blood stream, but hormones and pesticides used to treat cows and their feed, make their way to the human blood stream as well.

Thomas E. Levy, M.D., further argues in his book on nutrition, that some enzymes are absorbed into the blood stream as well. One particular enzyme, xanthine oxidase (XO), reaches the bloodstream where it replaces a substance called plasmalogen in the arteries, and directly promotes hardening of the artery walls.

But perhaps the most burning question is, “What danger do I risk if I drink Non-Homogenized Milk.” The answer is “none.” That’s right, homogenization has no known health benefits. Nor is it required by law. Milk is homogenized simply to give it a balanced consistency – more pleasing to the eye and no need to shake it. Milk in its natural state has a cream layer that floats on top of the liquid portion of the milk. Anyone who grew up on a farm, or before homogenization was common, will tell you that the cream is the most desirable part! And, as you are now aware, the cream also carries huge health benefits.

Dairy Goddess is one of two dairies in California to use a low-temperature vat pasteurization method. This ensures our milk retains a majority of its enzymes, which are crucial for proper digestionand good health. Dairy Goddess is the only dairy processing a Cream Top Chocolate Milk with vat pasteurization in the state!

Pasteurization of commercially-sold milk is required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to ensure that harmful bacteria in milk is eliminated. Standard pasteurization methods utilize high-heat, high-volume methods that unfortunately kill beneficial enzymes as well as bacteria. Some milk is even ultra-pasteurized to the point that it can be stored without being refrigerated. Some in the dairy and health industries refer to ultra-pasteurized milk as “dead milk” because everything — harmful and beneficial – have been killed.

Dairy Goddesses low-temperature vat pasteurization method allows us to heat our milk at a lower temperature for a longer period of time, eliminating harmful micro-organisms but leaving valuable enzymes untouched.

During our pasteurization process, milk is divided into small batches and processed in our vat. The milk is heated in the vat to a temperature of 145o F (63o C). (The chocolate milk is heated to 150F) It is held at this constant temperature for 30-minutes. The milk is then cooled in a ‘plate cooler’. It is run quickly through small stainless steel tubing that is surrounded by cold water. The milk is cooled quickly and put directly in our cooler and ready to be delivered, fresh to you!

So that’s it…less processed. More natural. The way things are supposed to be. We have been so geared to processing and long shelf life’s we don’t realize what value to us, nutritionally, we are giving up. Get back to basics…You will love the taste and your tummy will too!

The Wheels On The Bus GO Round and Round…..

Yep, we are back at it. Leaving our farms, our jobs, to fight yet again for a fair price. (Thank you to Western United Dairymen and Western Milling for making this bus happen). They realize that the numbers speak volumes and show just how important this is to us dairy farmers.

“Assembly Agriculture Committee set to debate Assembly Bill 31 – – California is on course to losing 100 dairies each year. Assemblyman Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) has proposed new legislation to remedy an unfair cost-setting scheme that threatens to force hundreds of Californias local, family-run dairies to shut down. Assembly Bill 31 will allow the state Agriculture Secretary to change a flawed dairy cost structure that now allows cheese makers to pay far less for milk in California than in other states. This legislation will fix an unfair set of rules that allows cheese producers to enjoy comfortable profits while dairy farmers risk losing everything, said Gary Conover, Director of Government Relations for Western United Dairymen. AB31 will level the playing field for dairy farmers, protect Californias spot as the nations top milk producer, and preserve our rich history of supporting family-run farms”

THANK YOU Assemblyman PAN….I appreciate your effort. I PRAY we get this much needed relief.

I can’t believe it has been already a year! The Fresno Food Expo is already here and things are a bit crazy in preparation as well as tending to all of our regular orders. We continue to service the 37 Nor-Cal Whole Foods so don’t forget to go in an ask for some “Dairy Goddess”.

The Expo is Thursday March 14, 2013. The public portion is going to be held from 5pm to 8pm at the Fresno Convention Center, Hall 1. Tickets are $40.00 but you can go to www.fresnofoodexpo.com for discount ticket offers.

Come on out to taste, touch, and try food and beverage products from 106 food exhibitors. It is a great opportunity to learn about local food companies and you will even have a chance to purchase product you like at the show. Dairy Goddess is offering special Expo discounts.

Supporting local food companies has never tasted so good.

Also I am asking you to please go to Fresno Food Expo New Products Award (click on link) and vote if you haven’t already. My 3 entries are in the TOP 5 of 55 products. The voting continues until the day of the event.

All you need to do is

“Like” each of my products (3 of them, Whole Milk, Chocolate Milk, and my Cheese) along with that please email a vote too. Your support is appreciated and helps our little company get our name out. Remember, I AM our marketing team.

Our family does it all! So join “OUR” family and take a moment to cast your votes.

As you know. Dairy Goddess Farmstead Cheese and Milk was created by me. Partly as a dream to create products from our cows milk but also out of desperation during the worst economic time in our dairy industry. Trying whatever we could to save our farm.

With the help and support of my husband Tony, my daughter Tara we have done a pretty good job. I am very proud of what we have accomplished in two and a half short years.

I am proud to announce that we just made it into the Northern California Whole Foods 35 plus stores with my Non-Homogenized, Low Pasteurized Whole Milk and Chocolate Milk along with Dairy Goddess Fromage Blanc Cheese. If you are in that region…please go in and tell them you LOVE Dairy Goddess. The real key to this success is to receive and maintain those re-orders.

I have expanded my tiny little plant and product as I have gone along. Dairy Goddess does not have a marketing team. I do not have an advertising budget. We do EVERYTHING ourselves. With that said. I am asking you to help me out. Please go to Fresno Food Expo’s Website (click here) Like their page. Then look at all of the wonderful new San Joaquin Valley New Products that will be highlighted at the Fresno Food Expo on March 14th. Then please LIKE each of my products. I have the Whole Milk / Whole Chocolate Milk and Cheese. Click the like by each of those pictures and that is all you have to do and sharing that with your friends would also be appreciated. This type of promotion is what has got me to where I am now. It is hard to get reach without professionals helping, but with your assistance I could not be happier!

I am the little ant that could….and this ant is going to do her best to keep going!

Thanking you in advance for your help…remember LIKE all Three Dairy Goddess Products by clicking the “thumbs-up” next to it’s picture.

I have just gotten back from Sacramento. Karen Ross had called a hearing to raise all Class Milk prices for up to 6 month to help dairy farmers through this terrible crisis. Mind you getting to a meeting in Sacramento at 7 am on the Friday before Christmas was no easy task.

I was proud to see many dairy farmers there. There were also plenty of processors there to fight it. Their lack of empathy toward our dairy crisis is disturbing.

I have been up since 230 am so I will post my testimony for you to read. There was a lot of very good producer testimony and I do hope that we were heard.

I am here today urging you to increase the pay price that dairy farmers receive.
We have been receiving nearly $2.OO less per hundred weight than the rest of the
United States for far too long. Along with that we have the highest costs and
the highest regulations as well as providing the highest quality of milk.
300 dairy families gone along with another 100 this year.
We have been pleading and petitioning for a year all to be denied and delayed.
All the while many dairy families have lost or are losing their generational
farms and culling generational herds. We hear from processors that we need to
become more efficient . I can guarantee you this ... The dairy farmers that are
still in business today have become efficient or else they would not be in
business today. I would only hope that our government would become as efficient
as us dairy farmers...we would not be on the fiscal cliff we are standing on
right now.
Have any of you ever here seen a dairy farmer walk around his dairy after the
cows have left for slaughter? It is heart breaking...it is a memory that will
never leave me. I pray that no more dairy families have to take that walk.
Those of us still here are fighting for our lives. Yet, as we fight for our
lives our main concern is to feed and care for our cows. Everything we do
revolves around our animals that is pressure that you will never understand.
Getting the cows fed and feeling relived, only, then to have the burden of
figuring out how you are going to cover your other bills like payroll,
electric,fuel,insurance, environmental regulation fees and God help us if we
have a blown tire on the tractor or a pump goes out. I do not wish the stress
and pressure on any of you. Though I would like for you to walk in my shoes for
a day...
We dairy families rallied on the Capitol steps in September and October . Only
to be treated as a minor nuisance. It was disheartening for so many but I am
extremely proud that, finally, California dairy farmers And 3 of our major
co-ops stood together.
I am disappointed in the actions of Secretary Ross and the CDFA. I would never
expect you to work and not receive a fair wage for what you do. Yet you have sat
back and watched the demise of so many dairy families knowing that we were
receiving so much less than the rest of the nation. Shame on you CDFA for
waiting so long and hoping it would fix itself as it has done in the past. Shame
on you for not appreciating the California dairy families and all they have
contributed to California.
In March of this year was the first I heard of the forming of a task force to
fix our industry for the long term. I pray for its success. As predicted, It
had not started off to be very fruitful. The one plus I see from there meeting
is that Sec Ross could see for herself the true line in the sand between
producers and processors.
There is a dark, sinister cloud that looms in our industry. I hope that we can
work to change our system for a healthy dairy industry in the future and to rid
the dark forces that shadow it.
Here we are at years end asking yet again, to be given some type of relief as a
result of this hearing. I urge you to act swiftly. We are hanging on by a thread
and for too many it is already too late.

We we just had the second Sunday of Advent. Many Christmas celebrations have taken place while many of us remain busy preparing for our own.

I spent a busy weekend working farmers markets. We did decide to go to the Cayucos Christmas Celebration on Saturday night after our markets. They have a tree lighting and businesses are open for shopping or for cheer along with carolers and carriage rides.

You could see it was bad. Two people down in the street. Tony went to see while I stayed in the car. He came back very upset and said a car hit two people that attempted to cross the street. The lady that hit them was very, very upset and said she hadn’t seen them. (No arrests were made). Just a terrible accident.

As we celebrate advent we prepare for the 2nd coming of Christ. Really, though, we never know when it is going to be our last day. This was a shocking reminder to me that we should be in constant preparation because it can come at any time.

As we continue to prepare for Christmas take time to make the most of this Advent Season by preparing our way to the Lord.

“Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Luke 21:36)

Sadly, the husband had died and the wife remains in critical condition. Tony and I have been praying for them and their family. We think about how something like a simple evening stroll can be your last.

It’s official! The holidays are upon us. Thanksgiving is no longer it’s own special day it has become the official kick off of the holiday season(Even though holiday decor is out at Halloween). It doesn’t even seem like that special of a day any longer as it is drowned out by “Black Friday”.

I find it ironic that the day we are to be most grateful for the things that we have goes into the day in which we fight lines and parking for all of those great sales for things we think we can not live with out.

Don’t get me wrong. I have spent every Christmas holiday of my adult life in the same frenzy to have everything “perfect” for Christmas day. Often so stressed and tired that when in church on Christmas I can barely keep my eyes open. I get it! I truly do.

I don’t know if it is because I am nearly 50 or if it is because I have been fighting these last four years to make our dairy work. I don’t know if it is because so much of my time is devoted to make my new business work. I continue to feel the negativity of the economy. I feel I have been fighting for a long time. I have been thrown losses and carry stress that life often bears.

The one solid and beautiful thing that has got me through these tough and trying times is my faith. Even with all of the difficulties, I know I have so, so much. It is the faith instilled in me that accepts what life brings to me is Gods plan.

My faith in God has given me the strength to carry on and keep up the fight. When having great abundance it is hard to appreciate those things that are truly important, family, friends, a new puppy :), health. When struggling you often find out what little you really need and what your have is so very, very sweet.

I was impressed by all of the 30 days of gratitude for the month of November from many of my Facebook friends. Also bloggers that made that commitment to share each and every day what they are grateful for.

So with that. Sunday, December 2 is the first Sunday of Advent. (Below is the Wikipidia definition of Advent). I would like honor this Advent Season through my blog by celebrating the birth of Jesus. Celebrating and honoring the Nativity. Also preparing and awaiting the second coming.

I hope that with this commitment to reflect on the Advent using my blog, like that of an advent calendar (though I can not promise my frequency, LOL) it will bring joyful anticipation of Christmas day and avoid the stress of the “material” part of the holiday and keep my eye on the real reason for the season, the birth of our Savior.

from Wikipedia

Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. The term is ananglicized version of the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming.” It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday. The Eastern churches’equivalent of Advent is called the Nativity Fast, but it differs both in length and observances and does not begin the church year, which starts instead on September 1.[1] At least in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Moravian, Presbyterian and Methodist calendars, Advent starts on the fourth Sunday before December 25, which is the Sunday from November 27 toDecember 3 inclusive.[2]

Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the Second Coming of Christ. For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from two different perspectives. The season offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for his Second Coming.